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Canal+, D8 deal passes regulatory hurdle

French competition authority Conseil de la Concurrence has approved Canal+’s acquisition of DTT channels D8 and D17 after imposing tough new conditions covering the airing of French movies.

Under the new requirements, pay broadcaster Canal+ will not be able to jointly pre-buy first-run pay TV and free-to-air rights to more than 20 French movies per year, and will have to focus joint acquisitions on mid-range budgets.

It will not be allowed to acquire joint FTA and pay rights to more than two films with budgets of over €15m (US$20.6m), no more than three with budgets of €10m-15m, and no more than five of €7m-10m.

The move now has to be approved by regulatory body Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel.

Following complaints by rival FTA players TF1 and M6, the French State Council cancelled approval of Canal+’s acquisition of DTT channel D8 at the end of December last year in order that more stringent conditions were imposed.

D8 has already been required to follow more stringent guidelines than other networks as a condition of its purchase. For example, the channel cannot share Canal+’s acquisition teams.

In addition, it is not allowed to dedicate more than 52 evenings per year to series sourced from the US majors that also have deals with Canal+, nor is it entitled to sign output deals with more than one US studio. D8 is also restricted in the number of movies it can acquire from Studio Canal.

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